Death toll climbs to four in Uganda Ebola Outbreak

The Ugandan Ministry of Health says three more Ebola patients have died, therefore bringing the total death toll to four.

The announcement is coming days after authorities confirmed an outbreak of a strain of the deadly disease.

Uganda’s health ministry said it had confirmed 11 cases of Ebola in total, including the four deaths.

Authorities say the latest outbreak, attributed to the Ebola Sudan strain, appears to have started in a small village in Mubende district around the beginning of September.

The World Health Organization says the Ebola Sudan strain is less transmissible and has shown a lower fatality rate in previous outbreaks.

Uganda last reported an outbreak of Ebola Sudan strain in 2012 and an outbreak of the Ebola Zaire strain in 2019.

First identified in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo , the virus has killed not less than 15,000 people.

The virus human transmission is through body fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea.